Sherma- Anti- Trust Act (1890) - Essay Example

Prior to the enactment of the Sherman Act, large corporations had more powers and were controlling the smaller corporations through price discrimination and price fixing. This led to unbalanced and unfair competition and hence the need to control the activities of the trusts. For instance, one of the reasons why farmers in Missouri farmers agitated for the formulation and enactment of an antitrust law was the fact that most of them were being underpriced by larger and more efficient farms. Sherman Act enabled individuals to start to their own businesses and it provided a perfect environment for business competition as it eliminated monopoly in the market (Koutsoudakis,pg.6). The penalties for violating Sherman Antitrust Act or law entail both criminal and civil penalties.

Individuals or corporation that has been found to commit, attempt or conspire to monopolize trade is liable to criminal or civil penalties because they are deemed to have committed felony. If a person has been found to be guilty of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act, a fine of up to $350,000 may be imposed on them or they can liable to face up to three years in prison. On the other hand, corporations that violate the Act can face a fine of up to $10,000,000. Furthermore, the government has been granted the power to seize any property of an individual or corporations that engage in unlawful trade practice that run contrary to the Sherman Act (Koutsoudakis,pg.8). Section seven (7) of the Sherman Act grant every citizen the right to file for a prosecution at any court in the United States and the entitlement for a remedy or compensation.

The import of this section is that it gives ordinary citizens the chance of receiving justice without travelling long distances to circuit court of the United States. Question Two William Edward Burghardt Du Bois is one of the prominent African-American intellectual leader who is renowned for the championing of black civil rights. Most of his writings and speeches were aimed at redeeming and uplifting the life of black people in the society. The opinion of W.E.B Du Bois on the Reconstruction Era: “The slave went free: stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again towards slavery” has significant undertones that can be analyzed.

The first part of the quote represents the end of slavery that had plagued United States for a long time. Although United States was founded on the precepts and promise of political freedom, individual liberty and freedom and economic prosperity, the same was not realized during the initial stages of its democracy and independence. After independence, slavery was widespread in United States despite the notion that the nation committed to uphold equality of all men and to get powers to rule and govern from the people (Campbell, Fraser and Mancall,pg.80). Slavery was rooted in America and majority of states from the south were composed mainly of slaves.

The emergence of civil war that majorly revolved around slavery brought some changes in United States. The Civil war led to the abolishment of the slavery in United States and this is what W.E.B Du Bois refers to in the first part of his opinion. The Second part of W.E.B Du Bois opinion represents the period after the civil war and the initial stages of the reconstruction era. Most of the Southern States got temporal reprieve when slavery was abolished and this is what